Short-range wireless communications networks may be used to provide an access point that allows access to the Internet by people who carry wireless devices having short-range wireless communications functionality. These networks are becoming increasingly common as more and more people carry handheld wireless devices. To gain access to short-range wireless communications networks, a wireless device user generally visually identifies the network on a display and selects this network using a wireless device input.
Short-range wireless communications networks often control access by asking for some sort of authentication data in the form of a device identifier, a password, or both. When the wireless device initially pairs with the short-range wireless communications network, the user manually enters the authentication data into the wireless device, which then wirelessly transmits it to the network to gain access. The initial manual entry of this data can serve as an obstacle to quickly accessing short-range wireless communications networks or to switching from accessing one network to accessing a different network.